reccomendation inexpensive survival knife

[elkins45]

Dude dont listen to the rubbish about how much you spend....Check out onatrio airforce survival knife, kabar usmc, and the becker line by kabar......Mora's are great.

I forgot about the Ontario airforce knife. It's a good choice and a good value for the money. You can get one from several surces for less that $ 50, or maybe even an older Camillus-made one from ebay.

 

[Trail Edge]

After reading this thread after many other survival topics, I came back to the original question myself: What Knife?
I must say that this is the question that I have had for a long time and I believe it is due to the batoning of the blade. You want something you can beat on now that winter is coming up? I think I would have to direct you to a saw as well, I’m not sure about a hatchet yet myself, but shelter and wood processing would be key along with a good way to make fire. I’m not sure if anyone has told you, but youtube has tons of reviews and you get to see the knives in various angles. I am personally starting to like that Becker 2, but you still have to consider the sheath. Just think, you could have a Cold Steel Recon scout that you could mount inverted on your backpack strap or LBE if you paid out the $50 for the knife and $50 for the sheath. Myself, I would like to try out a lot of knives, and I did try some cheap ones, some of which I have gotten rid of and miss.. They really couldn’t hold an edge anyhow.. There is that SRK that has one of those nice sheaths too and it’s only about $20 more bux than your original amount, it looks “PC” enough to be visable on the trail too. I’d recommend not looking at the trail master that came out with the Concealx sheath, because I have plans for one of them as a camp knife, just sayin’ because I want one when I have cash (JK). I dunno’, but I think I came back to the same question again. I would like to try so many.

 

[robino]

i think it was $30 shipped.

cuts like a razor, better actually...
if cutting small wood branches and making tinder for small fires is what you want, this would do it.
it also carves wood like no other.

not great for bigger jobs, but you can go up a notch to the thicker blade model, around $45-50...

you got a lot to pick from in the $50 or less

 

[dogstar]

On this forum, where people routinely spend hundreds of dollars on one knife, there is a lack of perspective among some members. There is the bias that if you didn't pay top dollar, then the equipment is faulty. Well, I wish we all had the money to play with you guys, but we don't.

Native Americans and mountain men survived using simple knives, a far cry from what can be had for $50 of modern materials and manufacturing techniques. Take a look at knifetests.com and see how much abuse a sub-$50 knife can take. At the end of the day, a knife is one of mankind's simplest inventions: a sharpened piece of steel that has been hardened and tempered.

 

[FTR-14c]

For under $50 I would go with the Mora bushcraft with the sandvik blade and an Ontario 12" machete. I have used the Mora just as hard as much more expencive blades and it holds up well. Pair it up with the Ontario 12" and you got it covered.

 

[jimh0220]

Don't get me wrong, I love Moras and Trams and Vic SAKS for enjoying spending time outdoors. If that's what the OP is talking about, they would be great choices.

But since we are talking about extreme, non-stop, life and death "survival," I wouldn't go out of my way to nickel and dime. When your life's on the line 24-7, you don't skimp on equipment.

$ does not always = quality. My $8 Mora would do all I need it to and I hav no doubt, barring obvious abuse for any similar sized knife, go head to head with a multi hundred $ custom knife in a survival situation juuuust fine. It's skill, not price, that get's your arse through a survival situation.

 

[eloreno]

kabar bowie series is a good value.

 

[Magnaminous_G]

Here's a bk2 I did some custom work on to make it even more effective in a survival situation. The stippled hand grips and jimping help with the grip in wet conditions, while I can still chop with out getting blisters since I faded the stippling out to the smoother lower portion. I also put the Veff serrations on the belly of the edge so that way it will still rip and tear long after most survival knives would have gone dull. ( yes, I know I still have to finish touching up the edge, but I've been running out of time! Lol) oh, and the cerakote is one of the most durable paints to protect against rusting.

I say all this to tell you that you can do all these mods yourself! It is a very versatile knife! Hope this helps.

It's really beautiful and a fantastic design, but for a survival knife, I don't like it, at all. That jimping on the spine is awfully aggressive. After an hour of whittling, your thumb would be worn to the bone unless you had Crocodile Dundee-level calluses already. And those serrations... no way would that be useful in a real survival situation unless you were stuck in a giant ball of steel wool and needed to cut your way out...

Not criticizing it; I love it, actually. But that's the last knife I would take for a survival situation.